Rio Rancho Basketball Player Files Suit Against Former Teammates

A Rio Rancho High School senior and basketball player has filed a lawsuit against two of his fellow teammates and their parents for bullying. Wake Gardner alleges that he was assaulted by his teammates on and off the court and that the students put urine in his hair gel.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, the incidents were reported to officials last April, and the offending students were punished.

But Gardner says he filed the lawsuit because he wanted to raise awareness about bullying, and that school officials didn’t do enough to stop it. The suit was filed against the alleged perpetrators, not the school itself.

Rio Rancho Public Schools athletic director, Bruce Carver, has confirmed the incident occurred and says the students were severely punished. He told KOB-TV that the incident was “one of the worst things that’s happened since I’ve been here.”

The mothers of the two boys sued said that it was Gardner who bullied their sons and provoked their sons to respond.

Gardner is now a senior at Rio Rancho. He says he won’t go out for the basketball team this year.